Lectionary Catechesis: Lent Week 5A, April 2, 2017

The raising of Lazarus is fundamentally the proclamation of the gospel. The range of the cast of characters is large enough to count us all into the story. Jesus himself is portrayed by John’s gospel here as particularly decisive, tempered by a full range of very human emotions. Indeed these events and the next chapter 12 before we move to the Last Supper, are the turning point of the gospel and of Lent toward the Paschal Mystery. CCC 640 teaches the core of our faith in the Resurrection. Jesus expresses very deep emotions, almost of indignation, at the responses of people to death as a sign of resurrection. While we live in a “culture of death”, we do everything we can to deny it. This may be a time to reflect on a recent trend not to have funerals, even opposing the deceased’s wishes.